Speed Read / Developments at a Glance

Rep. Stephen E. Buyer (R-Ind.) insisted that the issues under discussion belong in the public arena. “Lying to one’s spouse about an extramarital affair is not a crime. But telling that same lie under oath before a federal judge as a defendant in a civil lawsuit is a crime. Hiding gifts given to conceal the affair is not a crime. But when those gifts are part of a subpoena in a judicial proceeding the act of hiding the gifts becomes a crime.” He also warned senators against letting the president go unpunished.

Rep. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) after promising to stop “when I hear stomachs growling,” urged the senators to vote their consciences, saying that the country will survive whatever action they take. Graham then went on in a folsky style to give his definition of a high crime: “If an important person hurts someone of low means. It’s not very scholarly, but I think that’s what they (the Founding Fathers) meant by high crimes. Doesn’t even have to be a crime. It’s just when you start using your office and you’re acting in a way that hurts people, you’ve committed a high crime.”

Rep. Charles T. Canady (R-Fla.) said that perjury and obstruction of justice obviously were serious enough crimes to rise to the level of impeachment in the eyes of the Founding Fathers because perjury has been a felony since the late 1700’s. Using examples of earlier impeachment proceedings in the United States and England, he also rebutted the claim that only official misconduct is grounds for impeachment. “By his conduct, President William Jefferson Clinton has set an example the Senate cannot ignore. The maintenance in office of a president guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice is inconsistent with the maintenance of the rule of law.”

Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.) defended the motives of the House prosecutors and said that they did not accept the charges in the Starr report uncritically but arrived at their decisions by independent examination of the evidence. He said that they chose not to charge Clinton with abusing his executive privilege out of respect for the institution of the presidency. He told the senators that a partisan vote to acquit the president without an examination of the evidence “should never be recognized or countenanced.”

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) ended the prosecution’s case by recalling the “sacred honor” of the Founding Fathers and tracing the origins of the rule of law back to biblical times. He said that Clinton acted to undermine these traditions and should be convicted so that these ancient traditions will continue to be relevant today. “No greater harm can be done than breaking that covenant of trust between the president and the people, between the three branches of our government and between the country and the world.”

Tuesday’s Schedule

* At 10 a.m. PST Tuesday, the president’s legal team will begin presenting its defense. Like House prosecutors, Clinton’s lawyers will have 24 hours over several days, to make their case.